In 683, Emperor Gaozong of Tang died of illness and Li Xian took the throne. In the early morning dynasty, the Manchu Dynasty Wenwu shouted long live, Li Xian looked at them, raised his hand to greet them with no courtesy, but the ministers were indifferent, and suddenly a voice came from behind them: "The secretaries of state are flat." The crowd then got up, and Li Xian's raised hand hung in mid-air, not knowing what to do...
Li Xian's face turned pale, and he silently returned to the throne, never saying a word again.
In 680, Li Xian was made crown prince, but he was not happy at all. The position of prince of the Tang Dynasty has always been a hot potato.
Li Xian, who was born in the royal family since childhood, witnessed the tragic fate of his brothers Li Hong and Li Xian, and since they became princes, one died suddenly and the other was deposed.
And the reason why Li Xian was able to become the prince was that people cried and laughed. In his later years, When Emperor Gaozong Li Zhi looked around at his heirs, he found that there was no one available, so as a spare tire candidate, Li Xian entered Li Zhi's sight.
But when Li Xian became emperor, he found that his father's weakness had made Wu Zetian. That is, the woman behind Li Xian's body mentioned at the beginning.
However, after Li Xian ascended the throne, he did not want to be a puppet emperor. He thought that he would lose the dignity of the emperor, even if the person who seized power was his biological mother.
Looking at the Manchu Dynasty, Li Xian was disappointed to find that no minister was on his side, even if he was the emperor. These people were either Wu Zetian's cronies or wall-headed grasses who were good at seeing the wind and making rudders. Even Pei Yan, the assistant chancellor left by Li Zhi, was also a member of Wu Zetian.
Li Xian did not resign himself, he first promoted his wife Wei Shi's father Wei Xuanzhen as an assassin, and it was not long before he wanted to be promoted to the position of prime minister, and this promotion speed made Pei Yan unable to see it.
Pei Yan was above the court, relying on the majesty of Wu Zetian, and openly opposed Li Xian, but Li Xian was not afraid, but said lightly: "I have nothing to give to Wei Xuanzhen with the world, is it still stingy to be a servant" Frightened Pei Yan quickly knelt down to apologize, and he found that Li Xian was not a soft persimmon.
Li Xian also thought that this move had calmed Pei Yan, played a role in knocking on the mountain and shocking the tiger, and also let the courtiers understand who was the master of the Tang Dynasty.
After Pei Yan suffered a loss, he turned his head and told Wu Zetian, who laughed after listening to it and said lightly: "Since you are disobedient, let's change it." ”
Li Xian did not wait for the submission of The Manchu Dynasty Wenwu to receive his own deposed edict. In the first year of the reign of Emperor Sisheng, Li Xian was demoted from Chang'an City and exiled to Junzhou, only 55 days after he ascended the throne.
After leaving Chang'an, Li Xian's heart was extremely lost. He thought that his mother just wanted a little punishment and that he would not stay in Junju for too long.
Li Xian did not guess wrong, he really went back later, but he did not expect that after this, he waited for 14 years.
During this period, Li Xian's wife Wei Shi never abandoned, and on the way to being degraded, she also gave birth to a daughter for Li Xian, but Li Xian was at a low point in her life, and there was no decent clothes, so she wrapped her daughter in her own clothes and named li shu'er.
Without the golden clothes and jade food in the palace, although the standard of living is not as good as before, Li Xian has gained family affection, and his love with his wife Wei Shi is more solid.
Not long after his time in Junzhou, the news of Wu Zetian's title of emperor came from the dprk, and the whole country was shocked, since ancient times, it had not been heard that a woman could become an emperor.
Li Xian knew that in his mother's eyes, there was only power. When her father Li Zhi was alive, Wu Zetian had basically controlled the government, not to mention that after Li Zhi's death, no one could stop her anymore.
But Wu Zetian also had troubles: after all, his life expectancy was limited, and who should inherit the throne after death? Her life was full of ups and downs, she had already tasted the bitterness and bitterness of the world, and she herself had changed from a gorgeous beauty to an old woman with two white sideburns.
After some ideological choices, Wu Zetian decided to recall Li Xian, whether she was a conscience discovery or other reasons, Li Xian finally returned.
In 698, Li Xian was again made crown prince, and this time he learned to be wise and never dared to oppose Wu Zetian again.
After returning to the palace, Li Xian often thought in the middle of the night that it was because of his own faults that his wife and daughter suffered undeservedly. So during the days when he returned to Beijing, Li Xian spoiled Wei Shi and his daughter to envy others, and Wu Zetian also made Li Shu'er a princess of Anle, and often took her with him.
Over time, Princess Anle was favored by everyone, and her personality became flying,
In 705, Wu Zetian, who was more than 80 years old, fell ill, and under the persuasion of Di Renjie, she was ready to return the world to the Li family, but her favorite minister Zhang Yizhi and others acted arbitrarily in the court, which caused dissatisfaction among the Li Tang royal family and civil and military officials, so the people jointly killed the Zhang brothers and forced Wu Zetian to give way to Li Xian, known in history as the "Dragon Palace Change".
Li Xian ascended the throne again, and the world returned to the Li family. But it didn't take long for everyone to discover a familiar scene, Li Xian's side was sitting next to a woman who was listening to the government, she was Empress Wei.
Li Xian also had a bitter intention in doing so, and was exiled in his early years, if it were not for Empress Wei's encouragement, Li Xian would have wanted to die a long time ago; secondly, when Li Xian was called emperor, he did not support his own cronies before, and only the empress could be trusted around, and it was better to give power to her than to others.
Empress Wei didn't have any ideas at first, she just wanted to share her husband's worries and difficulties. Unfortunately, after a long time, no matter how strong the will is, it cannot withstand the temptation.
Because of the favor and connivance of Li Xian and Empress Wei, coupled with Wu Zetian's "words and deeds", Princess Anle had a terrible idea, she wanted Li Xian to make herself the empress dowager of the Emperor, and later become the empress of the Tang Dynasty like Wu Zetian.
Li Xian, who certainly disagreed, jokingly said, "If you want to be an empress, at least you will have to wait until your mother becomes an empress before you canonize you." "I didn't expect Princess Anle to take it seriously."
After she began to encourage Wei, Wei Hou had already tasted the taste of power, and she thought to herself that Wu Zetian could be an empress, how could I not be! So the mother and daughter conspired to send Li Xian a cup of poisoned wine, li Xian did not hesitate to drink it, the result was "death of illness", and then Wei Hou supported his young son to ascend the throne, and he and Princess Anle controlled the imperial program.
Therefore, when it comes to the most tragic emperor of the Tang Dynasty, it is none other than Emperor Zhongzong of Tang. It is a miserable life to be obedient to his mother and take his throne; to listen to his wife but to betray him; to love his daughter but to be poisoned by her daughter.
